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Israel Unleashes Operation 'Gideon's Chariots' in Hopes of Freeing Remaining Hostages

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JERUSALEM, Israel – Israel has begun its new campaign to strike Hamas across wider areas of the Gaza Strip and permanently remove the terror group's power.

As explosions tore through the night skies, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, "As we promised, we have launched a powerful campaign against Hamas, 'Gideon's Chariots.'  IDF forces are simply entering with force into the Gaza Strip with a dual goal: defeating Hamas and freeing our hostages."

The damage is devastating. However, the military campaign appears to be achieving one key goal: to isolate Hamas and destroy its leadership as a strategy to free the hostages and erase the Hamas threat.

Displaced Palestinian refugee Tamer Hussin stated, "Nights of terror, every day is terror. We live in terror, we wake up in terror, and we sleep in terror. Our children are terrified."

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There is no official confirmation, but Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Sunday that he believes Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar was killed in the bombing of the underground command compound below the European Hospital last week.

Muhammad was the younger brother of Former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the October 7th, 2023, attack.

Another brother, Zakaria Sinwar, was killed in an airstrike on Saturday night, according to media outlets in Gaza.

In another development, Israel Defense Forces International Spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani posted on about exclusive intelligence that was uncovered.

Shoshani wrote, “Documents recovered by the IDF from inside Gaza reveal a list of operatives in Hamas’ Khan Yunis 3rd Battalion. Among them, Hassan Aslih, listed by name, military number, and unit: the so-called 'Media Platoon'. Aslih was a Hamas operative who posed as a journalist. On October 7, he infiltrated Israeli territory alongside armed terrorists, filming scenes of murder, arson, and looting. His footage wasn’t news coverage, but it was part of the attack itself, intended to glorify terror.”

At the same time, Israel is now actively engaged in negotiating to free the remaining hostages, force Hamas into exile, disarm all of Gaza, and end the war.

Meanwhile, the IDF is allowing humanitarian aid back into Gaza, but with renewed efforts to ensure Hamas doesn't steal it, as the terror group has frequently done in recent months.

President Trump, back from his trip to visit three Arab states, keeps batting away accusations that he's sidelining Israel or is having trouble with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump said Netanyahu is an angry man, but has every right to be, given the brutal atrocities Hamas has committed against Israel since October 7th.

"You gotta remember, October 7th was one of the worst days in the history of the world," Trump observed. "I think not just, not just local to this region. It was one of the worst, most atrocious attacks anyone's ever seen."

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About The Author

CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief CBN.com
Chris
Mitchell

CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief In a time where the world's attention is riveted on events in the Middle East, CBN viewers have come to appreciate Chris Mitchell's timely reports from this explosive region of the world. Mitchell brings a Biblical and prophetic perspective to these daily news events that shape our world. Chris first began reporting on the Middle East in the mid-1990s. He repeatedly traveled there to report on the religious and political issues facing Israel and the surrounding Arab states. One of his more significant reports focused on the emigration of persecuted Christians

About The Author

Paul
Strand

As a freelance reporter for CBN's Jerusalem bureau and during 27 years as senior correspondent in CBN's Washington bureau, Paul Strand has covered a variety of political and social issues, with an emphasis on defense, justice, government, and God’s providential involvement in our world. Strand began his tenure at CBN News in 1985 as an evening assignment editor in Washington, D.C. After a year, he worked with CBN Radio News for three years, returning to the television newsroom to accept a position as a senior editor in 1990. Strand moved back to the nation's capital in 1995 and then to